The Tata Steel Group recently celebrated World Environment Day with events and activities supporting the theme, “CO2—Kick the Habit! Toward a Low-Carbon Economy,” as well as Tata Steel Group’s corporate vision, which states the company aspires to be “the global steel industry benchmark for Value Creation and Corporate Citizenship."
The occasion marked the beginning of a campaign called "Accelerated Drive for CO2 Reduction." It was launched by Tata Steel Managing Director B. Muthuraman, who released balloons at the Jamshedpur Works to kick-start the campaign. He also inaugurated an exhibition on environment that has been set up inside the Jamshedpur Works at Steelennium Hall. The exhibition addresses various technological developments and initiatives undertaken by Tata Steel in the last 100 years to reduce CO2 emission and make the process of steelmaking environment friendly. The exhibit elaborates various activities taken up to protect the environment and make the steelmaking process more eco-friendly.
While addressing the gathering, Muthuraman, spoke about the imperativeness of preserving the environment and adopting energy conservation methods. “In the last 300 to 400 years, the rate at which quality of life of an individual has improved, does not match the rate of successful initiatives to protect the environment.
“Needs/desires of human beings for a comfortable life is something that cannot be denied and development of these needs like the want for a car and luxuries like air conditioners has led to environment damage,” said Muthuraman. “It is high time we take cognizance of the situation and take larger steps to reduce CO2 emissions and protect the environment. We must take definitive steps to reduce CO2 and set targets to reduce energy consumption.”
In support of the need to protect the environment by reducing carbon emissions, Tata Steel Group is targeting a reduction of CO2 emissions to 1.5 t/tls compared to the current level of 1.8 t/tls.
In his welcome address, Om Narayan, Tata Steel’s Vice President (Shared Services), spoke about World Environment Day as being a day of introspection. "Steel is a commodity that can be recycled infinitely, but the problem lies in the fact that the steelmaking process is very energy-intensive. Keeping in mind Tata Steel group's Vision of reducing CO2 emission to 1.5 t/tls, we will be undertaking numerous initiatives and projects to achieve the target." Muthuraman also unveiled a booklet on energy that was in line with the theme of World Environment Day and Vision 2012.
Muthuraman also inaugurated the company’s 'Telepresence' initiative, a technology that is designed to replicate as closely as possible a face-to-face meeting experience even though the participants are on opposite sides of the world. This breakthrough technology will provide an opportunity to significantly reduce travel between the U.K. and India. In its own way, this innovation will also contribute to reducing CO2 emission, which is one of main thrust areas of the company’s Vision 2012. Studios with Telepresence suite have been set up in Millbank, Jamshedpur, and Mumbai, and the service was officially launched on World Environment Day.
To mark the occasion and spread awareness on preservation of the environment, the company held a special screening of the film, "An Inconvenient Truth" at the Steellenium Hall. The documentary gave an account of the harms being done to the environment and its impact on human civilization. The environmental celebration also featured a host of environment-focused activities, including tree plantation drives, awareness campaigns and environment floats that were organized across all locations of Tata Steel.
Climate change is becoming a defining issue for this era, and hence it is essential for companies and communities to focus on greenhouse gas emissions and adopt methods to reduce them. Through its various functions, Tata Steel celebrated World Environment Day and used this occasion to highlight resources and initiatives that promote low-carbon economies and life-styles, such as improved energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, forest conservation, and eco-friendly consumption amongst its people, employees and the communities that it operates in.